his test was to my mind a
decisive one as to the relative efficiency of the two arms for frontier
service, and I resolved thenceforth to carry the larger size.

[Illustration: THE GRIZZLY.]

Several different methods are practiced in slinging and carrying
fire-arms upon horseback. The shoulder-strap, with a swivel to hook
into a ring behind the guard, with the muzzle resting downward in a
leather cup attached by a strap to the same staple as the
stirrup-leather, is a very handy method for cavalry soldiers to sling
their carbines; but, the gun being reversed, the jolting caused by the
motion of the horse tends to move the charge and shake the powder out
of the cone, which renders it liable to burst the gun and to miss fire.

An invention of the Namaquas, in Africa, described by Galton in his Art
of Travel, is as follows:

"Sew a bag of canvas, leather, or hide, of such bigness as to admit the
butt of the gun pretty freely. The straps that support it buckle
through a ring in the pommel, and the thongs by which its slope is
adjusted fasten round the girth below. The exact adjustments may not be
hit upon by an unpracticed person for some little time, but, when they
are once ascertained, the straps need never be shifted. The gun is
perfectly safe, and never comes below the arm-pit, even in taking a
drop leap; it is pulled out in an instant by bringing the elbow in
front of the gun and close to the side, so as to throw the gun to the
outside of the arm; then, lowering the hand, the gun is caught up. It
is a bungling way to take out the gun while its barrel lies between the
arm and the body. Any sized gun can be carried in this fashion. It
offers no obstacle to mounting or dismounting."

This may be a convenient way of carrying the gun; I have never tried
it. Of all methods I have used, I prefer, for hunting, a piece of
leather about twelve inches by four, with a hole cut in each end; one
of the ends is placed over the pommel of the saddle, and with a
buckskin string made fast to it, where it remains a permanent fixture.
When the rider is mounted, he places his gun across the strap upon the
saddle, and carries the loose end forward over the pommel, the gun
resting horizontally across his legs. It will now only be necessary
occasionally to steady the gun with the hand. After a little practice
the rider will be able to control it with his knees, and it will be
found a very easy and convenient method of carrying it. When req